Kishoreda was a Grey bellied Cuckoo

Kishore Kumar was a Grey-bellied Cuckoo! What are your favourite Kishoreda songs? Drop them in the comments. Comic from Roundglass Sustain celebrating monsoon and the bird of the season!

To read a similar strip about Mohammad Rafi and the Magpie Robin, visit Roundglass Sustain here.

El Nino and La Nina

So what's it going to be this year? El Nino, La Nina or El Naninoninanino? Cartoon from my column with The Hindu Sunday Magazine.

Ranveer Singh and the Fungoid Frog

A World Frog Day special starring fashion guru Fungoid Frog. Oh, and also Ranveer Singh!

Cartoon from my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Life Lessons from Leeches

Dedicated to my wife Rithika who absolutely adores leeches! From my column with Roundglass Sustain (which later also appeared in The Hindu Sunday Magazine).

Class and Floods

Floods in Indian cities are quite a marvel. They expose the cracks not only in our urban planning, but also between class and caste hierarchies within our societies.

Peacock Uppertail Coverts

A peacock pulls off a 'covert operation' in my column with Roundglass Sustain. 

Dancing advice from the Indian Dancing Frog

Dancing frogs live along fast-flowing streams in the Western Ghats where they use 'dance moves' to woo their mates, by extending their hind legs and presenting the flashy webs to the ladies! From my column with RoundGlass Sustain.

Monsoon Melodies by Indian Frogs

Did you know that frogs don't just go 'croak' or 'ribbit'? They're almost as talented as birds when it comes to vocal music! 

Comic from my column with The Hindu. The Frog Finder app by Gubbi Labs (available on Google Play) is a great way to learn to identify some frogs of the Western Ghats, and also to listen to their calls (the app has been used as reference for this strip). Another amazing resource for frog songs, a DVD named 'Mandookavani' (developed by Ramya Badrinath, Sesadri KS, Ramit Singal and Gururaja KV) is available on https://gubbilabs.in/shop/productdisplay/mandookavani

Death and Nature

My mother Sulabha Chakravarty, a lawyer, journalist, teacher and environmentalist died in a car accident on the 19th of August, 2018. My family and I thank everyone who sent help, love and prayers our way, and stood by us through this hard time, from the bottom of our hearts. Of course, this includes both human beings and fauna!

The Indian Dancing Frog

Meet one of India's finest dancers, not surprisingly from the South: the Indian Dancing Frog! Dancing Frogs belong to the genus Micrixalus, and combine dance and martial arts like nobody else! Dancing frogs are severely threatened by habitat loss.

A monsoon special from my column with Mid-day today.

Neelakurinji Bloom at Munnar

Neelakurinji flowers (Strobilanthes kunthiana) bloom once in twelve years, and are blooming in Munnar, Kerala right now! Here's a comic celebrating this spectacle of nature from my column with Mid-Day today.

Kaas Plateau

Kaas is blooming! Drop everything and go witness this annual phenomenon!

From my column with Mid Day today.

The Snazziest Indian Frogs

If you look beyond stripes, specially during these monsoon months, you'll find that some of the trendiest creatures around, are frogs! We all know about the striking Poison Arrow Frogs of Latin America, but do we know of these beauties from our own land?

From my column with Mid-day today.

Weavers of India

On National Handloom Day, meet the weavers of India! Weaver birds are small passerines known for making some of the most complex nests in the avian world. Out of the four species found in India, the Baya is the commonest, and the Finn's the rarest. Weavers are frequently associated with grasslands and reeds.

Prints and merchandise available on my webstore here. 

For orders within India, mail me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com. (Prices of prints and merchandise for Indian orders-

A1 Posters (loose)- Rs. 3000 each

A2 Posters (loose)- Rs. 1200 each

Mounted Posters (A3- Individual species and compilation)- Rs. 2000

Loose Posters (A3- Individual species and compilation)- Rs. 500 for the first copy and Rs. 200 for the second copy onwards

Fridge Magnets (65 x 65 mm, Printed in sets of 4)- 4 Weavers for Rs. 1200

Coffee Mug (Compilation)- Rs. 850

The Effect of Monsoons

On monsoon and frogs from my column with Mid-Day today.

Cuckoo Fathers Day Greeting

Meet the Pied Cuckoo, the harbinger of monsoons and a sneaky nest parasite! The comic appears in my column with Sunday Mid-Day today.

A happy Fathers' Day to all fathers (and foster fathers) tame and wild! Prints are available as posters and greetings on my webstore here. Orders within India are available as A3 and A2 size prints, which can be placed by emailing me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com.

Karvi flowers bloom in Mumbai

Hey Mumbaikars, do you know that as we speak, a rare flower endemic to the Western Ghats called 'Karvi' (Storbilanthes callosus) is in full bloom in your very city after 8 years? The karvi blooms only once every 8 years and turns the city's famous Sanjay Gandhi National Park into a carpet of lavender. The bloom lasts just for a few weeks, so make sure you drop everything and go witness it right now!

The comic appears in my column with Mid-Day today.

Know Your Cuckoo Songs

For birdwatchers, monsoon is cuckoo-season! Easier heard than seen, cuckoo songs can be quite a puzzle to solve for the novice. Cuckoos become vocal during late summer and monsoon because this is the time they seek mates and breed. This also coincides with the breeding seasons of their host species, such as prinias, tailorbirds and babblers. Coucals however, make their own nests.

Here is a sing-along cuckoo chart that would help bird lovers with some quick on and off-field differentiation. (Please note that Malkohas have been left out because they are rarely vocal).

(Canvas for coffee mug)

The prints are available as A3 size posters and coffee mugs that can be ordered by e-mailing me on rohanchakcartoonist@gmail.com (mentioning the number of prints, your postal address and phone number). For orders outside of India, prints can be purchased from my online store here. Oh, and as I share this with you, a Grey-bellied Cuckoo puts up a concert in my backyard!

Prices for orders within India-

A2 Posters (loose)- Rs. 1200 each

Mounted Posters (A3- Individual species and compilation)- Rs. 2000

Loose Posters (A3- Individual species and compilation)- Rs. 500 for the first copy and Rs. 200 for the second copy onwards

Coffee Mug (Compilation)- Rs. 850
Tshirts (Compilation)- Rs. 1200

The Tailorbird

Monsoon is here and with it, the nesting season of the tailorbird! This little green dweller of the bushes is a bundle of energy, and anyone who has seen the song and dance of the tailor would agree with me. But what the tailorbird is really famous for, is its skilfully 'sewn' nest. The tiny craftsman first punches a series of holes in the chosen leaves, and then passes a lint through these holes, stitching them together to form a cup-shaped nest. Based on my own observations, the nest site is selected and the nest woven in such a way that it is nearly waterproof! It is of no surprise that Kipling chose to immortalize the tailorbird as his Jungle Book character, Darzee. 

The comic appeared in my column with The Hindu BLink here.

The Best Pick-up Line for a Frog

Frogs, alert! Want some action this monsoon? Here's the shortest and sweetest pick-up line that's bound to work! Oh, and if you're hitting on a herpetologist, it might still work.

For the non-biology types, amplexus is the term referring to the mating position of frogs in which the male grasps the female with his forelimbs to fertilize her eggs with the fluid that contains his sperm. Let's hope there's ample monsoon love for the endangered amphibians this season!